The Big Easy Stepper Motor Driver

Stepper (or step) motors are really cool. They are perfect for automation or any time you need a motor to turn to a specific point, at a specific speed, in a specific direction. And, unlike typical motors, steppers are able to do all of this, and hold their position when they are not moving – The trade off is that they cant move as fast, and you have to power them at full power all the time, but you get total control in return.

teppers have a minimum amount they can move known as a step. You can feel these steps if you slowly turn your stepper by hand. The most common steppers have 200 steps per revolution, so all movement is in 1.8º increments (360º / 200). Controlling them can get tricky at first, so today we are doing an article on using the Big EasyDriver Stepper Motor Driver. The big easyDriver is the big brother of the easy driver we wrote about last year. It is able to take a lot more abuse and power, so it isn’t as easy to destroy as the easy driver, can power much larger motors, and it also gives you a little more control by letting you change the microstepping setting.

Motor Voltage / Current

A lot of people ask about what voltage they should use to power their motor. Well, when using a stepper driver, you are powering the driver, not the motor. The driver will take over powering the motor for you.